Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a reading aid and, more particularly, to an educational reading aid.
2. Prior Art
Most cultures have a form of communication known as language. Most languages have a visual symbolic code to communicate in a visual manner. In America and many other countries today, English and Spanish are the primary languages used. In English and Spanish, the written form of communication are letters in combination to visually depict the verbal code of language. Each letter has a specific sound or sounds and in combination these letters have been given meaning. The visual depiction of the word in English and Spanish is read from left to right. This is called reading the written word. A line of symbols are read from left to right and from the top to the bottom of the page.
For many, the process of reading is an ordinary task. However, for many people, it is difficult to translate and read the language symbols (words) in a comprehensive manner. These people have a reading difficulty. Their eyes wander about the page of print, randomly moving up, down, right, left. They lose their place and their direction so that the focus of the reading process becomes blurred. For them, it is not a simple task to move their eyes from left to right, and from the top of the page to the bottom of the page, combining the symbols in a correct manner to make sense of the written print. Further, it is often difficult for these individuals to properly use phonetic skills to decode and blend a group of symbols into a meaningful word.
Problems may arise from the lack of repetitive experiences in the gross motor developmental area (i.e. left-right motor movement), which is necessary if further learning in the fine motor area is to take place (i.e. eye-hand coordination, left-right eye movement). Reading Readiness experiences are necessary in the gross and fine motor area for the student to master the proper learning of skills in reading.
In recent years there has been intensified interest in teaching machines of varied complexity which are designed to accelerate the learning progress of the student and which enable the individual student to proceed at a pace commensurate with his or her abilities. Some of these machines work on a reward system for enabling the student to advance to the next bit of information to be learned only after the correct answer is designated by the student. These machines are, of course, complex, expensive, and require special skills in the preparation of the programs for the machine. Some of these machines or devices require special answer sheets against which the student must compare his or her answers.
Accordingly, a need remains for an inexpensive educational reading aid, which overcomes the above-noted shortcomings.
In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an educational reading aid. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are provided by an apparatus for helping a person read wherein the apparatus includes a housing that has a longitudinal axis and oppositely spaced edge portions extending parallel thereto and at an oblique angle thereto respectively along a length of the housing. The housing further has oppositely spaced end portions integral with the edge portions and extending substantially orthogonal to the axis. The housing further has substantially planar top and bottom surfaces that have respective openings formed therein and extending substantially parallel to the axis.
The housing further has a slot formed generally medially between the top and bottom surfaces and extending substantially parallel to a length of the housing. The housing further has an inner surface for defining the slot and assisting to maintain the plurality of colored films at a substantially parallel position to the axis. Advantageously, the inner surface prevents the plurality of colored films from bulging upwardly and downwardly into the top and bottom openings respectively so that the apparatus does not blur a group of words disposed therebeneath.
The apparatus further includes a plurality of colored films, preferably formed from plastic, selectively positionable into the slot and for assisting a user to differentiate a group of words in a line from a remainder of words in other lines by positioning the apparatus on the line and centering the openings therealong. The housing may further have a notch formed at one of the end portion thereof for advantageously assisting a user to removably insert the plurality of colored films into the slot respectively. The notch preferably has a substantially arcuate shape and may be medially disposed between the spaced edge portions of the housing.